Meeting Summary
This week the Committee considered the following
documents:
European Public Prosecutor's Office and Eurojust
The House of Commons agreed on Tuesday 22 October
to the Committee's proposal that a Reasoned Opinion should be
sent to the Presidents of the European institutions on the grounds
that the Draft Regulation establishing a European Public Prosecutor's
Office (EPPO) is not in compliance with the principle of subsidiarity.
A further debate on the floor of the House on the EPPO proposal,
this time on whether the UK should or should not opt into it,
is scheduled for Tuesday 29 October. The House will also be debating
whether or not to opt into the related Eurojust instrument. The
Committee reports this week the latest Ministerial correspondence
on both documents, in time for the opt-in debate.
Reform of the EU's Staff Regulations
This draft Regulation seeks to amend the conditions
of employment for the approximately 55,000 officials and other
agents employed by more than 50 institutions and agencies in the
EU and in third countries. We have kept it under scrutiny for
some time, not least because of the very substantial amounts of
money involved — €61.6 billion will be spent on implementing
these Regulations over the next five years. Unfortunately, the
Minister now tells us that the UK Government has failed to meet
its negotiating objectives and a hurried political agreement was
reached in COREPER earlier in the year. The Committee recommends
the document for debate in European Committee because of its financial
and political significance; we also ask for the final version
of the proposal to be deposited with a further Government Explanatory
Memorandum.
Regulation of new psychoactive substances
The Commission has proposed this Draft Regulation
and Directive aiming to strengthen the control of new psychoactive
substances (sometimes referred to as 'legal highs') and the application
of criminal sanctions. The Government's Explanatory Memorandum
raises many legal and policy questions about the proposal but,
disappointingly, it does not provide an assessment of the subsidiarity
implications. Nonetheless, having reviewed the proposal we conclude
that the Commission has failed to produce sufficient evidence
of disruption to legitimate trade, or displacement of the harmful
effects of new psychoactive substances, to warrant market intervention
on the scale envisaged or the imposition of additional constraints
on Member States' freedom of action. We therefore recommend that
the House agrees a Reasoned Opinion, the draft text of which is
Annexed to our Report.
EU-Ukraine
These Council Decisions cover the signature, provisional
application and conclusion of an EU-Ukraine Association Agreement.
We have had the first draft Decisions under scrutiny since July,
and have now received further information from the Government.
This is a highly important and controversial agreement, with
major implications for enlargement policy and EU-Russia relations.
We therefore recommend it for debate in European Committee before
the Foreign Affairs Council on 19 November which will decide whether
or not to adopt the Decisions.
EU Regulatory Fitness and Evaluation of EU legislation
These two Commission Communications respectively
summarise the progress made to date in achieving regulatory reform
and set out a strategy to bring the Commission's system for evaluations
up to date with recent developments in EU Smart Regulation policy,
and in particular the Regulatory Fitness ("REFIT") programme.
The Government has engaged extensively with the Commission on
better regulation issues in recent months, and has pressed for
a reduction in unnecessary regulatory burdens, especially for
SMEs. It welcomes much of the content of both Communications,
while expressing regret that there is no comprehensive timetable
for some of the reforms. Given the importance of these issues
we recommend both Communications for a joint debate in European
Committee.
| 
